Sudan, Chad Agree on Combating Extremism, Protecting the Displaced

Head of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby meet in N'Djamena on Sunday. (SUNA)
Head of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby meet in N'Djamena on Sunday. (SUNA)
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Sudan, Chad Agree on Combating Extremism, Protecting the Displaced

Head of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby meet in N'Djamena on Sunday. (SUNA)
Head of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby meet in N'Djamena on Sunday. (SUNA)

Head of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council Lt-Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan held bilateral talks on Sunday with Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby in the capital of Chad, N'Djamena.

They discussed the updates in Libya and Central Africa.

Burhan was accompanied by acting Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq, chief of General Intelligence Ahmed Ibrahim Mufaddal, and head of the Military Intelligence Authority.

Following the one-day visit, a joint statement expressed Sudan and Chad’s concerns about the impact of instability in Libya on neighboring countries.

Burhan and Deby voiced concerns over the ongoing activity of terrorist groups in the Sahel region and their expansion in Africa.

They stressed the significance of enhancing the combat capabilities of the joint Chadian-Sudanese forces to confront the mounting security challenges along their borders.

This would be achieved through establishing direct and continuous ties between the parties concerned with security, defense, and the protection of refugees and displaced.

They further agreed on “exchanging information and intelligence between the security bodies of both countries” and on taking "firm and coordinated measures to contain the illegal migration and weapons smuggling”.

Moreover, Chad and Sudan agreed on holding the cross-border forum on security and development before the end of 2023 in Chadian city of Abeche.

Burhan and Deby agreed on “the activation of the joint force between Sudan, Chad, and Central Africa to combat insecurity on the three countries’ joint borders”.

They also agreed on assisting Libyan parties in reaching peace and coordinating with the relevant parties on the situation in Central Africa.

Burhan congratulated Deby on the success of the Chadian dialogue, which was followed by the formation of a government and transitional institutions.

He reiterated Sudan’s support for political stability and the outcomes of the national dialogue between Chadian parties.

Sudan and Chad signed in 2009 a security and military agreement in which a joint military force was formed along the borders of both countries.

Burhan’s visit to Chad came less than one month after deputy Chairman of Sudan’s Sovereign Council, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo revealed a plot to overthrow the regime in Central Africa that was plotted from Sudan.

He had accused at the time domestic and foreign parties of being behind the plot and announced the full closure of borders between both countries.



'No Eid' for West Bank Palestinians Who Lost Sons in Israeli Raids

Internally displaced Palestinians walk in the streets during Eid al-Adha in Gaza City, 06 June 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Internally displaced Palestinians walk in the streets during Eid al-Adha in Gaza City, 06 June 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
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'No Eid' for West Bank Palestinians Who Lost Sons in Israeli Raids

Internally displaced Palestinians walk in the streets during Eid al-Adha in Gaza City, 06 June 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER
Internally displaced Palestinians walk in the streets during Eid al-Adha in Gaza City, 06 June 2025. EPA/MOHAMMED SABER

Abeer Ghazzawi had little time to visit her two sons' graves for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha before Israeli soldiers cleared the cemetery near the refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

The Israeli army has conducted a months-long operation in the camp which has forced Ghazzawi, along with thousands of other residents, from her home.

For Ghazzawi, the few precious minutes she spent at her sons' graves still felt like a small victory.

"On the last Eid (Eid al-Fitr, celebrating the end of Ramadan in March), they raided us. They even shot at us. But this Eid, there was no shooting, just that they kicked us out of the cemetery twice", the 48-year-old told AFP.

"We were able to visit our land, clean up around the graves, and pour rosewater and cologne on them", she added.

Eid al-Adha, which begins on Friday, is one of the biggest holidays in the Muslim calendar.

As part of the celebrations, families traditionally visit the graves of their loved ones.

In the Jenin camp cemetery, women and men had brought flowers for their deceased relatives, and many sat on the side of their loved ones' graves as they remembered the dead, clearing away weeds and dust.

An armored car arrived at the site shortly after, unloading soldiers to clear the cemetery of its mourners who walked away solemnly without protest.

Ghazzawi's two sons, Mohammad and Basel, were killed in January 2024 in a Jenin hospital by undercover Israeli troops.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad militant group claimed the two brothers as its fighters after their deaths.

Like Ghazzawi, many in Jenin mourned sons killed during one of the numerous Israeli operations that have targeted the city, a known bastion of Palestinian armed groups fighting Israel.

-'There is no Eid'-

In the current months-long military operation in the north of the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967, Israeli forces looking for militants have cleared three refugee camps and deployed tanks in Jenin.

Mohammad Abu Hjab, 51, went to the cemetery on the other side of the city to visit the grave of his son, killed in January by an Israeli strike that also killed five other people.

"There is no Eid. I lost my son -- how can it be Eid for me?" he asked as he stood by the six small gravestones of the dead young men.

The Israeli military did not offer details at the time but said it had carried out "an attack in the Jenin area".

"There's no accountability, no oversight", lamented Abu Hjab.

"One of the victims (of the strike) was just a kid, born in 2008 -— so he was only 16 years old."

"I still have three other children. I live 24 hours a day with no peace of mind", he added, referring to the army's continued presence in Jenin.

All around him, families sat or stood around graves at Jenin's eastern neighborhood cemetery, which they visited after the early morning Eid prayer at the city's nearby Great Mosque.

The mosque's imam led a prayer at the cemetery for those killed in Gaza and for the community's dead, particularly those killed by the Israeli army.

Hamam al-Sadi, 31, told AFP he has visited the cemetery at every religious holiday since his brother was killed in a strike, to "just sit with him."

-'Our only hope'-

Several graves marked "martyr" -- a term broadly applied to Palestinian civilians killed by Israel -- were decorated with photos of young men holding weapons.

Mohammad Hazhouzi, 61, lost a son during a military raid in November 2024.

He has also been unemployed since Israel stopped giving work permits to West Bank residents after the Gaza war erupted.

Despite the army's continued presence in Jenin, Hazhouzi harbored hope.

"They've been there for months. But every occupation eventually comes to an end, no matter how long it lasts".

"God willing, we will achieve our goal of establishing our Palestinian state. That's our only hope," he said.

"Be optimistic, and good things will come".